Plone Conference Boston 2016
Proposal by: Sally Kleinfeldt, Cris Ewing, Kim Nguyen
Plone Conference Boston 2016
Introduction
Dear Plone Community members,
We are pleased to bring you this proposal for the 2016 Plone conference in Boston! It’s been
five years since the conference has been held in the United States, and our aim is to bring
Plone roaring back with an event to remember.
Our proposal team members have participated in Plone conferences and events for years and
we have organized past events, including trainings, sprints, meetups and symposia. We believe
this experience will allow us to ensure an experience you will enjoy to the fullest.
We plan to provide an all-inclusive event, with training, conference and sprints included in a
solid week of Plone activity.
Vision and Goals
Plone has reached its 15th birthday with a renewed vigor and sense of excitement. Now is the
perfect time to re-establish the strengths of Plone for the North American audience. To that end
we propose a conference aimed at bringing renewed strength to the Plone community in North
America by
• Demonstrating core Plone values such as inclusivity, community and collaboration
• Emphasizing the power, flexibility and usability of Plone’s technology
• Reaching out to increase participation by new Plone users
We aim to provide an exciting and informative conference, infused with Plone spirit and the
flavor of New England.
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Plone Conference Boston 2016
About Boston
Boston, on the east coast of North America,
is one of the oldest American cities. It is the
capital of Massachusetts, one of the 6 New
England states. Here you can find narrow,
cobblestoned streets on Beacon Hill and
modern skyscrapers in the Financial district.
The city is relatively small in size and it is
easy to get to know it on foot. Climb the
Bunker Hill Monument, commemorating one
of the early battles of the American
Revolution. Grab an espresso and a pastry in
the historic and very Italian North End. Tour
Fenway Park, America’s oldest baseball
stadium. Ride the Swan Boats in the Public
Garden, unchanged since the children’s book Make Way for Ducklings was written in the
1940’s. Visit one of the many museums - the Museum of Fine Arts, the Gardner Museum, the
Institute of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Science - Boston has dozens and there is
something for everyone. Stroll along the harbor, visit Old Ironsides, the Charlestown Navy Yard,
and of course the site of the Boston Tea Party. This video (especially the first few minutes) will
give you a sense of what Boston is like.
Boston is famous for higher education. There are 35 colleges and universities in the greater
Boston area, including Tufts, Northeastern, Boston University, Boston College, and Harvard
University. Just down the Charles River from Harvard is the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, one of the engines of US technical know how. Our conference will be held adjacent
to and on the MIT campus.
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Plone Conference Boston 2016
Conference Venue
Our conference will be held at Microsoft’s
New England Research and Development
Center (NERD Center), a modern building
with spectacular views of the Charles River
and Boston. The NERD Center is located in
Kendall Square, Cambridge (across the river
from Boston proper). Kendall Square is a
vibrant center for the biotech and technology
industries on the northeast side of the MIT
campus. It has a subway stop, dozens of
eateries, and is a short walk across the
Longfellow Bridge from Beacon Hill.
We will have the entire NERD Center conference facilities for the full week of the conference.
There are conference rooms for trainings, talks and sprints, shared spaces for food, registration
and the hallway track, and a lovely space for the Conference party. Microsoft has been
extremely generous and is donating the use of this beautiful space for the entire week trainings, conference, and sprints.
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Plone Conference Boston 2016
In addition to the NERD Center, keynote and plenary sessions will be held on the MIT campus
in Wong Auditorium. Wong Auditorium is in the Tang Center, part of the prestigious Sloan School
of Management, and a short walk from the NERD Center. It is a beautiful modern facility and will
provide a great showcase for Plone.
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Plone Conference Boston 2016
Conference Schedule and Format
Training - Monday October 17 and Tuesday October 18, 2016
We propose to arrange a combination of 1 and 2 day Plone 5 trainings (focused on developers
and designers) and shorter workshops on topics of interest to integrators, such as configuring
LDAP/Active Directory authentication, setting up Solr search, TTW theming and content types,
deployments, etc.
Conference - Wednesday October 19, Thursday October 20, and Friday October 21, 2016
The conference days will consist of
• Morning keynote sessions where all attendees are together
• Followed by 3 parallel tracks of talks
• Ending the day with lightning talks where again all attendees are together
A portion of the conference will be set aside for impromptu open space discussions.
Sprints - Saturday October 22 and Sunday October 23, 2016
Post-conference Plone sprints are an amazing tradition that we intend to continue. We
hope to include Pyramid or related sprint topics to build engagement with members of
the sizable Boston Python community.
Audiovisuals
The Plone conference is always rich in outstanding talks. One downside to this is that you can’t
possibly see every talk you’d like to. We’ve made arrangements with Giro Studio to create highquality, visually distinct recordings of every talk at the conference. Giro Studio is the provider of
video services for MIT OpenCourseWare and has the experience, equipment and know-how to
deliver. Their service will allow you to catch up on all the talks you missed and will help to
spread the word of Plone 5 to the masses!
Accommodations
There are many hotels in Boston, and prices tend toward the expensive. Several hotels are in
Kendall Square, and many others are a short subway ride away. We will make every effort to
secure bulk-rate discounts at several different local hotels at a variety of price ranges, and we
will post a list of recommended places to stay well in advance of the conference.
In addition to hotels, there are hostels and plenty of AirBnB possibilities. The latter may be an
attractive option for many conference attendees.
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Plone Conference Boston 2016
Meals
In order to accommodate the widest possible range of tastes and to keep conference fees
down, we propose to give participants sufficient time in the schedule to explore Kendall
Square’s many and varied eateries. There are over 25 restaurants within easy walking distance,
ranging from the highbrow to the lowbrow. The conference website will provide a map and
annotated list of places to eat.
Drinks and light local snacks will be provided in the conference center throughout the day.
Plone Community Party
The Plone Conference would not be complete without a good party. Happily the NERD Center
includes an terrific space, and they have told us that we can make as much noise as we want.
The party will be on Friday night. It will feature a jazz quartet and catered snacks and drinks.
After the party, the bars of Kendall Square lie only a short walk away.
Things to do in Boston
October is the perfect time to visit Boston. It hasn’t gotten seriously cold yet, but there’s enough
of a nip in the air that the autumn foliage is at its peak. Here are some recommended activities,
all of them family-friendly.
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Join the leaf peepers by car or bus http://www.yankeefoliage.com/
Visit Concord and Lexington, site of the shot heard round the world and a nice place to
peep at leaves http://www.nps.gov/mima/index.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Battles_of_Lexington_and_Concord
Walk the Freedom Trail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Trail
Visit Harvard University and its many museums (the Glass Flowers at the Museum of
Comparative Zoology are a high point) http://www.harvard.edu/on-campus/museums
The Museum of Science is within walking distance of Kendall Square http://mos.org/
The Museum of Fine Arts has a splendid collection of Impressionist paintings, Egyptian
and Greek artifacts, musical instruments, Asian art, and more http://www.mfa.org/
Tour Fenway Park http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/bos/ballpark/tour.jsp (highly
recommended even if you are not a huge baseball fan)
The Boston Symphony Orchestra will be in its fall season and Symphony Hall is
considered one of the great concert halls in the world. http://www.bso.org/
Ride the Swan Boats http://swanboats.com/
Visit the Children’s Museum http://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/
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Plone Conference Boston 2016
Restaurants and Entertainment
Boston has many restaurants, everything from the the most upscale venues to Mr. Bartley’s
Burger Cottage http://www.mrbartley.com/. Local specialties include seafood, clam chowder,
and of course lobster. Brew pubs are popular and the number of local beers seems to increase
daily. And there is one thing that New Englanders will reliably wait in long lines for, particularly in
the middle of the winter: handmade ice cream. Be sure to try some from one of the great local
places like Toscanini’s in Central Square or Herrell’s in Harvard Square.
Boston is a cultural center where you will find an abundance of entertainment of all types. There
is a very strong Irish traditional music scene with numerous sessions in pubs throughout the
city. There are venues for live music, theater, dance, comedy clubs, and more. And of course
with all those universities, there are lectures galore.
Traveling to Boston
Logan Airport (BOS) is a major international airport located across the harbor from Boston
proper. It is serviced by 38 airlines, with direct flights from many European and American cities.
Logan is well connected to the city by public transit. MBTA Silver Line buses make frequent
stops at all terminals, and carry passengers to South Station where they can transfer to the
subway system. There is no charge to go from the Airport into Boston.
Boston can also be reached by Amtrak trains and various bus lines (Greyhound, Chinatown,
BoltBus, etc.).
It is unnecessary to rent a car while visiting Boston; in fact we recommend against it unless you
are planning an excursion to the New England countryside. The public transportation system is
good and the parking is atrocious.
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Estimated Budget
Revenue
% Price 150 Attendees 175 Attendees 200 Attendees 225 Attendees
Early-Bird Tickets
50 $350 $
26,250.00 $
30,635.00 $
35,000.00 $
39,375.00
Speaker Tickets
25 $350 $
13,125.00 $
15,312.00 $
17,500.00 $
19,687.50
Full-Rate Tickets
25 $450 $
16,875.00 $
19,688.00 $
22,500.00 $
25,312.50
Community Sponsorships
-
$
3,000.00 $
3,000.00 $
3,000.00 $
3,000.00
Corporate Sponsorships
-
$
12,000.00 $
12,000.00 $
12,000.00 $
12,000.00
$
71,250.00 $
80,625.00 $
90,000.00 $
99,375.00
Total
Expenses
Fixed Costs
Per-Person Costs
Category
Cost
Category
Cost
Conference Venue
$ 1,768.00
Catering
$ 75.00
Venue Contingency Fund
$10,000.00
T-Shirt
$ 10.00
WiFi Expenses
$ 5,000.00
Gift Bag
$ 10.00
Video Recording and Upload $ 7,900.00
Party
$ 30.00
Equipment
$ 3,000.00
Total
$125.00
Printing and Signage
$ 6,500.00
Conference Website
$ 2,000.00
Conference Party
$ 5,000.00
Trainer Lodging
$ 4,000.00
Keynote Speaker
$ 1,000.00
Total
$46,168.00
Projections
Attendees
Income
Expenses
150
$
71,250.00 $
64,918.00 $
8,437.50 $
(2,105.50)
175
$
80,625.00 $
68,043.00 $
9,843.75 $
2,738.25
200
$
90,000.00 $
71,168.00 $
11,250.00 $
7,582.00
225
$
99,375.00 $
74,293.00 $
12,656.25 $
12,425.75
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Foundation Fees
Gross Profit
Image Credits
All images are public domain with the following exceptions:
”Fall at the base of Mt Washington” (page 2) by Matthew Hunt
- CC-BY https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattphotos/
"Massachusetts State House, Boston, Massachusetts - oblique frontal view" (page 3) by
Daderot at the English language Wikipedia.
- CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
"Gehry MIT" (page 3) by syvwlch
- CC-BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/27164521@N00/
“One Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA” (page 4) by Mann/Shinar Architects & Planners ltd.
- http://mann-shinar.com/details.asp?ID=_1035
“Fourth of July at the Office” (page 4) by Dana J. Quigley
- from the Microsoft New England blog
“FuzzyCover presents to the audience” (page 4) uncredited image
- from the Microsoft New England blog
“Impact Weekend” (page 4) by Dana Córdova
- copyright Dana Córdova from Rethink Music
“1st Floor NERD Center” (page 4) by Kevin Grocki
- CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/kgrocki/
“The Tang Center, MIT” (page 5) by Epstein Joslin Architects, Inc.
- http://www.epsteinjoslin.com/learning/the-tang-center-for-management-education-mit
“Wong Auditorium in the Tang Center” (page 5) uncredited image
- from the iCubeSat blog
“Black Lives Matter at MIT” (page 5) by Dominick Reuter
- With Permission from MIT News
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